day one, down eleven

Today is in the books.

Day one without Jeff. Reality has not set in. In my mind, Jeff is off, and Hector was there working on his computer.

Day one with a new manager. No reality there either. I did everything I normally do, plus get new safe codes, get new inventory room codes, get new mapping of the hard drives. You know, run of the mill normal stuff when a member of management leaves.

Day one, and this is the big one, without a cigarette. Yes dear readers, my last smoke was about 10 last night. I didn't even notice or want one until about three today. And right now, LOL.

Todd, our district manager was there early this morning. He really didn't have a lot to say, he gave me some hints at my raise, which hopefully is good. He told me some other things I shouldn't/didn't want to hear. One, I had to call Jeff on and give him a heads up.

I am going to be behind Hector 100%. Anything less would be a disservice not only to myself, but also to Jeff. He trained us better than that. I do have control of the schedule now, which is awesome ;) I think I will actually have more responsibility, and that's OK. Hey, A.D., when I come to OP, I am bringing my resume! *chuckle*

I spoke with a lot of people last night, another district manager, our own Houston auditor, and our performance operations manager. All three had great things to say to comfort me. They all knew I stayed at Katy not really pushing for manager because I was working with Jeff. They all said I would not be there long. They all told me how great my reputation is in the market. Liz, our performance manager told me, "even though you are not the most tenured, you're one of the most knowledgeable". That was awesome, and a great compliment to Jeff & Mandy who trained me.

What is the saying? The only change you can count on is change itself? Yep, I'm believing it. I told Liz last night, the stores that did not get audited have a perfect chance to make sure they do not fail. Make sure January is perfect, and so on. The best way I know to honor Jeff would be to have a damn near perfect audit.

This is probably why I have lost eleven pounds!

And this just in ---

As I was typing the lines above, my new manager calls me. He tells me that my Senior (Jr. Manager) is leaving effective Monday. Going guess where? With Jeff! And the hits just keep on commin'!

I'm going into the witness protection program. There is entirely too much drama in my life.